Life on the World Race. What is it like? Is it hard physically? Is it deep spiritually? Do you meet new people every day? Have you seen miracles? Do you live in a tent all the time?
Well then, take a look at what a normal day in Albania looked like for us!
7am – roommates alarms start going off (it really started at 6 but let’s be real, most didn’t start moving till 7 when their 2nd alarm went off)
7:30am – I finally rolled out of bed, grabbed my Bible, and walked up to breakfast (bread, butter, jam, boiled egg).
8am – Proverbs Bible study with Squad!
10-1 – Working on the property! My first week I was painting, then my second week I was whitewashing and helping in the Kiwi garden by setting up wires for them to grow on, and my third week I was helping to check/fix bunk beds that kids will be sleeping on during camp. Others were moving rocks, working with the sheep and pigs, helping clean the pool/doing other gardening things, and inventory.
1-2pm – Lunch break! We spent this time eating, going to the local store, taking a nap, and/or having a personal devotional time.
2-5pm – Working on the property!
5-6:30pm – Free time! This normally meant workouts, store, showers, alone time, and/or naps if you didn’t get one after lunch.
6:30-7pm – Dinner! My team ate together every night and we came up with a rule: If you’re the last one to the table then you have to sing a song loudly for 20 seconds. This became fun for the rest of the squad who would constantly ask us who was going to have to sing 🙂
7:15pm – Matthew Bible study with the squad!
9-10:30 – Time to chill. So we showered (if not already), chatted, watched movies, had team time, played games, got ready for bed.
10:30 – Quite hours for everyone and lights our (for our room)
10:30-7am – Sleep!
That was our schedule Mondays-Fridays. Weekends looked a bit more relaxed and chilled. We had options to
travel to another part of Albania or to stay in Lezch (local town). Our last weekend there was also a chance for people to travel to Bari Italy! So we had more freedom to do whatever on the weekends.
During our time in Albania we talked with (to the best of our ability) with the locals that worked on the property, the lady that owned the local store, and with Matilda. We loved them all and I think that they enjoyed having us around.
Is what the above schedule what the race normally looks like? My answer: hahaha. Normal? What’s that? Every month is different and some months everyday is different. Every race is different, it’s even different for people within the same team. So to future racers: if you do go to Albania (you will love it b/c it’s so beautiful!) don’t expect to have the same experience that I had – seriously NO expectations.
To answer the other questions asked above:
Do I live in tents: Yes and No. I just finished month 4 and I lived in my tent 2 out of 4 months.
Do I see miracles? Yes! All the time! Don’t expect miracles to be the big things (remember no expectations). Look at the small miracles. For example, seeing people learn new spiritual truths that they have never heard of and research them on their own (doesn’t happen too often in America from my experience), people surrendering more of their life to God, seeing spiritual gifts develop and grow, and so much more.
Albania was Awesome, Beautiful, Hard, A season of growth, and Fun! Now we are in Bulgaria! More info about what we will be doing to come 🙂
